A DYNAMIC leadership is one that constantly excites the led. Meanwhile, monotony blankets a moribund leadership. That, I say, was one of the things I learned as an organizer when I was younger. That is why I don’t find it difficult to say which local government executive exhibits dynamism in his/her leadership.
Naga, which calls itself an “industrial city,” formally launched Wednesday a P10.5-million park development project designed by world-renowned Cebuano industrial designer Kenneth Cobonpue called the “Pasilong sa Naga.” I looked at the giant tarpaulin that provided a backdrop to the groundbreaking ceremony and got excited. The park will rise in the now already chaotic city center.
I started to get excited with Naga City when its government reclaimed the area at the back of the old municipal hall, allowing the town (now city) center to breathe, as it expanded the space from the church to the coastline. Before that, Naga could only boast of, aside from those power and cement plants, the tree house built in the park in front of the municipal hall by former mayor Paul Ong.
Then his successor, Valdemar Chiong embarked on that reclamation project and other major undertakings after Naga became a city. To that reclamation project he added the construction of a sports facility with a track oval that has already hosted big sporting events in the province and the region. And yes, the boardwalk.
A neighbor was the one who actually told me about the boardwalk after I asked him about his going out with his family and some neighbors one night. “Naay nindot suroyan sa Naga,” he told me. Days later, I purposely brought my family there. There’s nothing grand about the place; it’s just that it provided families and the young ones a place to spend time in while being close to nature (the sea).
Those familiar with the Naga town center will definitely find a vastly different place with the transfer of main government offices to the reclaimed area, the boardwalk, the sports center and the sprouting of malls. But the government, now headed by Valdemar’s daughter Kristine Vanessa, is not about to rest on its laurels with “Pasilong sa Naga,” which would be visible to southern travelers.
The mayor told SunStar Cebu reporter Justin Vestil that the city applied for financial support with the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) with the creation of new parks and open spaces in mind. Then she sought Cobonpue out.
“I’ve been receiving requests from local government units to design their parks but it was only Mayor Chiong who really followed me up on her request,” he said.
Naga is one of the two cities going southeast from Cebu City. The first one is Talisay City. The town of Minglanilla separates Naga from Talisay. But the latter has seemingly gone moribund unlike when Eduardo Gullas, then the first district congressman and now its mayor, was younger and imbued with dynamism. If Talisay continues to tarry, Naga could outstrip it sooner rather than later.